DESCRIPTION(provided by applicant) The goal of the Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) Hematology Training Grant is to foster and strengthen the research base for trainees in basic and clinical research disciplines of Hematology. One of the major strengths of BCM is the interactive nature of the faculty. This is exemplified most clearly by the number of interdisciplinary Centers/Cores on campus that are relevant to this application-a total of 11. The award of a NIH training program in Hematology will further stimulate interactions that are already strong in this area and will encourage many young investigators to pursue important problems in Hematology drawing from all BCM Departments. This broad base of mentors will assure that sophisticated technology will be readily accessible to all trainees. The PI and Co-Directors, Josef T. Prchal, Andrew Schafer and David Poplack, have had, since the PI?s arrival to BCM, a history of close productive interaction with each other and a strong record of past trainees; assuring a close interaction and integration of the Adult & Pediatric programs. Their shared leadership will assure the continuous presence of at least one of them on campus and they will share the burden of the Program?s responsibilities. They will coordinate all the trainees? activities within the BCM campus. In addition they will organize the Seminar program that will stimulate trainees and foster their interaction with mentors. The seminar series, symposia on selected topics in molecular Hematology, an annual BCM Hematology retreat that will include a mandatory graduate trainees research competition, will be an important forum for stimulating the trainees? intellectual curiosity. The introduction of trainees to "cutting edge" technology and advances in basic sciences pertaining to Hematology will provide an essential foundation for their eventual independent careers in academic medicine. The Program?s directors will closely interact with other academic activities on campus to promote member interactions with investigators in related areas such as the Departments of Genetics and Cell Biology, the nine BCM Centers and Core facilities, and the Divisions of Hematology/Oncology and Infectious Diseases; all of these are directed by mentors of the Hematology Training Grant. The major goal of the BCM Hematology Training Grant will be to help its trainees to encourage and facilitate their interaction with mentors. The particular strengths of the mentors are their internationally acknowledged expertise in these basic research areas: Thrombosis & coagulation, inherited and acquired defects of erythropoiesis, molecular and cellular biology of hematopoiesis, immunology, genetics and gene therapy, role of neutrophlls in health and disease, experimental and therapeutic bone marrow transplantation, generation of mouse models of human hematological acquired and inherited disorders, and epidemiology and treatment outcome intervention. The program will also expand on the recruitment of minorities to academic Hematology.